Kevin and Lori Klein select February READ

Kevin and Lori Klein made a double selection for this month's Faculty Favorite program. Lori Klein, Assistant Professor of Political Science, recommended Extraordinary, Ordinary People by Condoleezza Rice.

Condoleezza Rice and I grew up in the same city, ten years, a few miles, and an absolute world apart. Birmingham, Alabama is a city infamous for her terrible struggle with race relations, but is is home to both of us. Dr. Rice's book is the story of her family, of her hometown, and of how deeply she believes in "transformation through education."

My copy of this book is covered with notes, littered with turned down pages. I loved seeing the parts of our lives that were similar and learning about how her parents worked so hard to provide her with opportunity and support. I know so well the difference that education has made in my life, and it was compelling to see how much education changed the narratives of the Ray and Rice families. I also enjoyed learning more personal details about this remarkable public servant -- her skill and discipline as a pianist (which came from her mother), her obsessive passion for football (which came from her father), even her foray into ice-skating as she took advantage of spending her childhood summers in Denver. Of course, I was also fascinated to read her inside accounts of political events that have shaped the last few decades, and pleased to catch up on where she has been since leaving public service.

Kevin Klein, Associate Professor of History, chose The Poems of Sidney Lanier.

I have loved the poetry of Sidney Lanier since I first encountered his writings. Lanier fought in the Civil War for the South (during which he contracted tuberculosis in a Northern prisoner of war camp), and returned to the devastated landscape of his native Georgia following the war determined to find a way, despite his chronic health problems, to provide for his wife and three sons.

Lanier never wallowed in the self-pity of the "Lost South," and instead found comfort and cause for celebration in God's creation, both in the beauty of nature and the transcendent qualities of man. Lanier particularly elevated what most considered the humble and despised aspects of God's creation -- swamps, bayous, and poor "cracker" whites and freed blacks. These he showed as beautiful, even noble, in their simplicity and striving for little more than quiet survival.

Lanier also set his talents to the task of expressing his love for his wife in verse throughout their marriage. Having made a living for his family through sixteen years of post-war economic depression and chaos, having given his maturing sons stories of honor and hope, even and especially when encountering adversity or defeat, he died of his war-time disease in 1881 at the age of thirty-nine. His life's work endures. I highly recommend his efforts.